A NEW HOME IN RICE CORNER.
Very different this time was Mary's ride with Mr. Knight from what it
had been some months before, and after brushing away a few natural
tears, and sending back a few heart-sighs to the loved ones left
behind, her spirits rallied, and by the time they reached the borders
of Rice Corner, there was such a look of quiet happiness on her face
that even Mr. Knight noticed it.
"I'll be hanged if I know what to make of it," said he. "When you rid
with me afore, I thought you was about as ugly favored a child as I
ever see, and now you look full as well as they'll average. What you
been doin'?"
"Perhaps it's because I've had my teeth out," suggested Mary, and Mr.
Knight, with another scrutinizing look in her face, replied, "Wall, I
guess 'tis that. Teeth is good is their place, but when they git to
achin', why, yank 'em out."
So saying, he again relapsed into silence, and commenced whipping at
the thistle tops and dandelions. As they rode on, Mary fancied that
the country looked pleasanter and the houses better, than in the
region of the poor-house; and when a sudden turn of the road brought
into view a beautiful blue sheet of water, embosomed by bright green
hills, her delight knew no bounds. Springing up and pointing towards
it, she exclaimed, "Oh, please stop a moment and look. Isn't it
lovely! What is it?"
"That? Oh, that's nothing but 'Pordunk Pond, or as folks most
generally call 'em, seem' there's two, North and South Pond."
"But it's big enough to be a lake, isn't it?" asked Mary.
"Why, yes," returned her companion. "It's better than five miles long,
and a mile or so wide, and in York State I s'pose they'd call it a
lake, but here in old Massachusetts we stick to fust principles, and
call all things by their right names."
"How far is the pond from Mrs. Mason's?" asked Mary, casting longing
glances towards the distant sandy beach, and the graceful trees which
drooped over the water's edge.
"It's farther back than 'tis there, 'cause it's uphill all the way,"
said Mr. Knight, "but here we be at Miss Mason's,--this house right
here," and he pointed to a neat, handsome cottage, almost hidden from
view by the dense foliage which surrounded it.
There was a long lawn in front, and into the carriage road on the
right of it Mr. Knight turned, and driving up to a side door; said to
Mary, "Come, jump down, for my foot is so lame I don't believe I'll
get out. But there's your chest. You can't lift that. Hallo, Judith,
come 'ere."
In answer to this call, a fat, pleasant-looking colored woman appeared
in the doorway, and as if fresh from the regions of cookdom, wiped the
drops of perspiration from her round jolly face.
"Here, Judith," said Mr Knight, "help this gal lift her traps out."
Judith complied, and then bidding old Charlotte to "get up," Mr.
Knight drove away, leaving Mary standing by the kitchen door.
"Come in and sit down," said Judith, pushing a chair towards Mary
with her foot. "It's as hot here as oven, but I had crambry sass and
ginger snaps, and massy knows what to make this morning, and I got
belated; but set down and make yourself to home."
Mary took the proffered seat, and then Judith left the room for a few
moments, saying when she returned, that as Mrs. Mason was still
suffering from a headache, she could not see Mary until after dinner.
"And," continued Judith "she told me to entertain you, but I don't
know what to say, nor do first. Harry died just a week to a day before
he was to be married, and so I never had any little girls to talk to.
Can't you think of something to talk about? What have you been used to
doing?"
"Washing dishes," was Mary's reply, after glancing about the room, and
making sure that on this occasion there were none to wash.
"Wall," answered Judith, "I guess you won't have that to do here; for
one night when some of the neighbors were in, I heard Miss Mason tell
'em that she got you to read to her and wait on her. And then she said
something about your not having an equal chance with your sister. You
hain't but one, now t'other's dead, have you?"
Mary replied in the negative, and Judith continued: "Wall, now, you've
got over the first on't, I reckon you'se glad the baby's dead, for she
must have been kind of a bother, wasn't she?"
Instantly Mary's thoughts flew back to an empty cradle, and again a
little golden head was pillowed upon her breast, as often in times
past it had been, and as it would never be again. Covering her face
with her hands, she sobbed, "Oh, Allie, Allie! I wish she hadn't
died."
Judith looked on in amazement, and for want of something better to do,
placed a fresh stick of wood in the stove, muttering to herself. "Now
I never! I might of knew I didn't know what to say. What a pity Harry
died. I'll give her that big ginger snap the minute it's baked. See if
I don't."
Accordingly, when the snap was done, Judith placed it in Mary's hands,
bidding her eat it quick, and then go up and see the nice chamber Mrs.
Mason had arranged for her.
"If you please," said Mary, rapidly shifting the hot cake from one
hand to the other,--"if you please, I had rather go up now, and eat
the cake when it is cool."
"Come, then," said Judith; and leading the way, she conducted Mary up
the staircase, and through a light, airy hall to the door of a small
room, which she opened, saying "Look, ain't it pretty?"
But Mary's heart was too full to speak, and for several minutes she
stood silent. With the exception of her mother's pleasant parlor in
Old England, she had never before seen any thing which seemed to her
so cosy and cheerful as did that little room, with its single bed,
snowy counterpane, muslin curtains, clean matting, convenient toilet
table, and what to her was fairer than all the rest, upon the
mantel-piece there stood two small vases, filled with sweet spring
flowers, whose fragrance filled the apartment with delicious perfume.
All this was so different from the bare walls, uncovered floors, and
rickety furniture of the poor-house, that Mary trembled lest it should
prove a dream, from which erelong she would awake.
"Oh, why is Mrs. Mason so kind to me?" was her mental exclamation; and
as some of our readers may ask the same question, we will explain to
them that Mrs. Mason was one of the few who "do to others as they
would others should do to them."
Years before our story opens, she, too, was a lonely orphan, weeping
in a dreary garret, as ofttimes Mary had wept in the poor-house, and
it was the memory of those dark hours, which so warmed her heart
towards the little girl she had taken under her charge. From Jenny we
have learned something of her history. Once a happy, loving wife,
surrounded by wealth and friends, she had thought the world all bright
and beautiful. But a change came over the spirit of her dream. Her
noble husband died,--and the day succeeding his burial, she was told
that their fortune, too, was gone. One by one, as misfortune came upon
her, did her fashionable friends desert her, until she was left alone,
with none to lean upon except the God of the widow and fatherless, and
in Him she found a strong help for her dark hour of need. Bravely she
withstood the storm, and when it was over, retired with the small
remnant of her once large fortune to the obscure neighborhood of Rice
Corner, where with careful economy she managed to live comfortably,
besides saving a portion for the poor and destitute. She had taken a
particular fancy to Mary, and in giving her a home, she had thought
more of the good she could do the child, than of any benefit she would
receive from her services as waiting maid. She had fully intended to
go for Mary herself; but as we already know, was prevented by a severe
headache, and it was not until three o'clock in the afternoon, that
she was even able to see her at all. Then, calling Judith, she bade
her bring the little girl to her room, and leave them alone.
Judith obeyed, charging Mary to "tread on tiptoe, and keep as still as
a mouse, for Miss Mason's head ached fit to split."
This caution was unnecessary, for Mary had been so much accustomed to
sick persons that she knew intuitively just what to do and when to do
it and her step was so light, her voice so low, and the hand which
bathed the aching head so soft and gentle in its touch, that Mrs.
Mason involuntarily drew her to her bosom, and kissing her lips,
called her her child, and said she should never leave her then laying
back in her easy chair, she remained perfectly still, while Mary
alternately fixed her hair, and smoothed her forehead until she fell
into a quiet slumber, from which she did not awake until Judith rang
the bell for supper, which was neatly laid out in a little dining
parlor, opening into the flower garden. There was something so very
social and cheering in the appearance of the room, and the arrangement
of the table, with its glossy white cloth, and dishes of the same hue,
that Mary felt almost as much like weeping as she did on the night of
her arrival at the poor-house. But Mrs. Mason seemed to know exactly
how to entertain her; and by the time that first tea was over, there
was hardly a happier child in the world than was Mary.
As soon as Mrs. Mason arose from the table, she, too, sprang up, and
taking hold of the dishes, removed them to the kitchen in a much
shorter space of time than was usually occupied by Judith. "Git away
now," said that lady as she saw Mary making preparations to wash the
cups and saucers. "I never want any body putterin' round under my
feet. I always wash and wipe and scour my own things, and then I know
they are done."
Accordingly, she returned to Mrs. Mason, who, wishing to retire early,
soon dismissed her to her own room, where she for some time amused
herself with watching the daylight as it gradually disappeared from
the hills which lay beyond the pond. Then when it all was gone, and
the stars began to come out, she turned her eyes towards one, which
had always seemed to her to be her mother's soul, looking down upon
her from the windows of heaven. Now, to-night there shone beside it a
smaller, feebler one, and in the fleecy cloud which floated around it,
she fancied she could define the face of her baby sister.
Involuntarily stretching out her hands, she cried, "Oh, mother, Allie,
I am so happy now;" and to the child's imagination the stars smiled
lovingly upon her, while the evening wind, as it gently moved the
boughs of the tall elm trees, seemed like the rustle of angels' wings.
Who shall say the mother's spirit was not there to rejoice with her
daughter over the glad future opening so brightly before her?